Murray making strong case for No. 1 pick

Jim Matheson, edmontonjournal.com05.06.2012

Ryan Murray, right, of Team Canada, bodychecks Jason Zucker of Team U.S.A. during action at the 2012 World Junior Hockey Championship tourney in Edmonton. There is a chance Murray will be invited to play for Canada at the world tournament May 4-20.Getty Images
/ The StarPhoenix

New York Rangers defenseman Ryan McDonagh (27) and Washington Capitals center Marcus Johansson (90) battle for the puck during the second period of Game 3 of the NHL Eastern Conference Semifinals Playoffs at the Verizon Center Wednesday, May 2, 2012.Chuck Myers/MCT

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EDMONOTON - Kevin Lowe laughs off the cloak ’n’ dagger suggestion that he brought over junior defenceman Ryan Murray for his Canadian world championship team so he could test-drive the 18-year-old for the Edmonton Oilers before the June draft.

Makes for a juicy story, but it’s not true. He says people are jumping to conclusions. He may be the Oilers president of hockey operations, but he’s not butting in and telling the Oilers scouts what kid to take in Pittsburgh on June 22.

Lowe’s a Murray fan, like most people, though. Murray played the exhibition against the Swiss, he suited up against the Slovaks since P.K. Subban (knee) and Mark Methot (groin) are out for the tournament. He also dressed against the USA on Saturday, even though Kyle Quincey is being airlifted in as NHL help. That would give them eight defencemen, but Lowe said Murray might still dress against France on Monday with Canada going with 12 forwards with Alex Burrows (concussion) out.

“I know how tough this tournament is. I came here in 1982 when I was 23 years old, a third or fourth year pro, and I struggled. To have an 18-year-old doing what Ryan’s doing is impressive,” said Lowe, in a phone call from Helsinki, Finland.

“But I’m not going to tell our scouts what to do. They see a lot more games than I do. They’re finishing up their scouting meetings in Palm Springs and I’m not getting on the phone to ask them who they like best,” said Lowe.

While one NHL coach who has a fairly good team watched Murray and said “he could play in our top four right now,” Lowe and chief scout Stu MacGregor won’t be swayed by how a player looks today.

“What we’re looking for is the best player 10 years from now,” said Lowe.

If that’s Murray, great. If that’s explosive winger Nail Yakupov, fine. Heck, maybe Morgan Rielly (great acceleration), Griffin Reinhart (big body, big shot) and Matt Dumba (exciting puck-mover who likes to hit) might be better in the long run that Murray. He has drawn comparisons from Mark Howe to Glen Wesley to, yes, K. Lowe by some scouting bibles with the he’s-going-to-be-a-captain-in-the-NHL-someday tag.

As he said, Lowe didn’t bring Murray over from the Everett Silvertips to get a close-up look before the draft. They couldn’t find Canadian defencemen playing in Europe to fill out the roster for exhibition games like they usually do, so somebody suggested Murray.

And why not? The Canadians playing in Europe aren’t going to play in the NHL next year, but Murray could. While Murray’s name is all over the map in various scouting lists (No. 2

in Central Scouting, No. 4 on Kyle Woodlief’s Red Line Report, and not in the top 10 in Craig’s List; former NHLer Craig Button’s look at the best kids), he’s a talent.

“He’s an effortless skater. He’s got very good hockey sense. There was one play against the Slovaks where the puck was along the boards and he started to go for it, then said no. It wasn’t like he panicked. He just stepped back and accepted the rush. You could see a lot of scouts noticing that,” said Lowe.

Lowe certainly knows the law of averages at draft time. You pick a forward in the top three in the draft, and it’s about 99-per-cent certain they’ll be a top-six player, a star or a superstar give or take the odd Alexander Svitov (Tampa Bay Lightning, third overall, 2001). He had the size, also a mean streak, but not the drive and has been playing back in Russia since 2007. That’s radioman Bob Stauffer’s continuous comparable and he’s bang on.

You pick a defenceman in the top-five and they normally take longer to make their mark because the learning curve is steeper for blue-liners. Drew Doughty stepped right in, but Zach Bogosian, for instance, has taken a lot longer. Alex Pietrangelo was taken fifth in 2008, but didn’t make the Blues until 2010. This past season he finished in the top six in Norris voting, he was that good.

There’s been much talk in Montreal of beefing up the Canadiens pro-scouting department now that Marc Bergevin has arrived as the ever-smiling general manager.

Despite the dour Pierre Gauthier, the former GM, nobody can say Montreal’s amateur scouts have failed in their duties in the last few years.

The 2007 draft brought the Habs Ryan McDonagh, Max Pacioretty and P.K. Subban in the first 43 picks. How is that for a trifecta?

Oh yeah, McDonagh isn’t in Montreal anymore. He played 53 minutes for the New York Rangers in that triple overtime game against the Washington Capitals on Wednesday. Seeing McDonagh take that wallop from Matt Hendricks, the one that almost ripped his head from his shoulders, then see him play another 30 or so shifts as if the hit were, as the Monty Python actors used to say is “just a flesh wound,” is to see a true warrior in action.

The trade of McDonagh to the Rangers to get Scott Gomez came on Bob Gainey’s watch when he was the GM. This should tarnish Gainey’s reputation for knowing who can play in the NHL and who can’t, but several sources say Gauthier’s fingerprints were really all over this one.

“Bob’s daughter had died (swept overboard at sea while working on a training ship) before this and he was letting Pierre (his confidant) do a lot of the work. Pierre didn’t like McDonagh, for some reason. Saw him play in the world juniors and didn’t like him. The scouts loved McDonagh, though. When he was traded, they couldn’t believe it,” said a source close to the scene.

“At least make up your mind on McDonagh after he’s played a few seasons.”

Instead, McDonagh was dealt on June 30, 2009 while he was still attending the University of Wisconsin, after he had finished his junior year there. He had just turned 20.

“The scouts didn’t think he was going to put up a lot of points, but he was big (213 pounds) and he competed,” said the source.

How would he look as Subban’s safety blanket in Montreal today? McDonagh, Subban, Josh Gorges and a healthy Andrei Markov on defence? Pretty good.

McDonagh for Gomez, who might well be buried in the minors next season so the Habs can save his $7.35 million US salary-cap hit, has to go down as one of the most one-sided trades in the last few years.

Bergevin, while too nice of a guy to shovel dirt on his predecessors, is probably grinding his teeth over that one.

Gomez has gone from 59 points to 38 points to 11 points in his three years in Montreal. He won two Stanley Cup rings in New Jersey and has 99 points in 140 career playoff games, but he looks done. How can that be? He’s only 32. Ray Whitney of the Phoenix Coyotes turn 40 on Tuesday. Teemu Selanne of the Anaheim Ducks turns 42 in July.

Money key issue in Smyth-Oilers talks

Edmonton Oilers winger Ryan Smyth hoped to have a new contract before the season ended and while there is a two-year deal being discussed, money is the issue.

How much is he worth?

“He wants to remain in Edmonton and they know that,” said Smyth’s agent Don Meehan.

Nobody thinks this will get to July 1 when Smyth can be an unrestricted free agent. However, this has gone on longer than it should have.

An annual salary that’s comparable to Smyth, based on his age (36) and his points (46) this pasts season, might be one-time Oiler Jason Arnott, who is 37.

Arnott had a one-year contract with the St. Louis Blues for 2. 5-million, signing as an unrestricted free agent last summer. He has career points in 1,244 NHL games.

Smyth has 806 points in 1,151 games. He likely would be paid for what he can still do on the ice — he may be a third-line winger next season, with power-play time — and some goodwill for playing 852 games as an Oiler.

If not Arnott, then how about winger Milan Hejduk, 36, who signed a one-year $2.6 million deal with the Colorado Avalanche this past season? Hejduk only had 37 points, nine fewer than Smyth, however. There’s also talk he may retire.

Smyth, who may not want to take less than $3 million, played all 82 games in 2011-12. He started with a bang, getting 30 points in his first 38 games, but had just 16 in his last 44.

Days of long deals may soon be over

Everybody expects the Vancouver Canucks will have to eat somebody’s bad contract when they trade goalie Roberto Luongo, who’ll make $6.7 million the next six years as part of that huge 12-year contract.

“I’m sure they’ll have to take back somebody else’s misstep or mistake, but I don’t think he’ll get traded for (Rick) DiPietro,” one longtime agent said jokingly.

The days of giving staggering 10-, 11-, 12-year deals to players, so teams can keep the average annual cap hit down, likely won’t be in the new Collective Bargaining Agreement, with the contract running out on Sept. 15.

“I’m pro player and I’m out there to do the best job I can for them, but who can predict the future 10 years down the road? You’re lucky if you can do it next season,” said the agent.

Agents love hitting the home run, but when one guy gets $70 or $80 million over 10 years or so, then maybe another of his clients can’t get a job three or four years down the road because those dollars have been taken out of play.

“The thing that bugs me about the CBA is you can’t game-proof anything. The owners were chirping about how they won the war in the last CBA (2004-05), and two years into it they’re crying the blues because they’re getting killed.

“If there’s one thing about the CBA, if I tried to look at it from the owners side, where I’d be more sympathetic, it’s with the small-market teams having to spend to the salary-cap floor which has got so high ($44 million). But when the owners say the players are getting too much money, then run it like a fricking business,” said the veteran agent.

Today’s NHL game all about defence

Cam Neely has watched enough hockey to realize that scoring goals today is like trying to walk across broken glass. It’s agony.

Today’s game is all defence, which is no fun for players with offensive gifts.

The Bruins Bruins president and Hall of Famer even wonders if the Wayne Gretzky-Mark Messier Edmonton Oilers would have even found a way to score more than two a night in today’s goal-stingy era.

“It’s coached so differently now. What surprised me when I first started travelling with the team in 2007 was the coaches pulling out their laptops to dissect the game as soon as they got onto the plane.

“It’s a lot easier to coach not getting scored on, than it is to coach how to score a goal. A team like Edmonton ... teams and coaching staffs are so good at trying out how to shut down a team. I think it would be hard to create that kind of offence again,” said Neely.

This ’n’ that

• While former Oilers head coach Craig MacTavish waits for the next coaching gig, he’s likely watch NHL playoff games, such as the Philadelphia Flyers-New Jersey Devils series, and focus on rookie forward Matt Read. “Craig was working for us last year (scouting colleges) and the Flyers and us were chasing Read (Bemidji State in Minnesota). I guess they offered more dollars,” said Kevin Lowe, president of hockey operations for the Oilers.

• The Boston Bruins figure on bringing in Niagara IceDogs Dougie Hamilton, the best CHL junior defenceman this season, to their back end in the fall. He had 72 points in 2011-12 in only 50 games. Joe Corvo won’t be back, which opens up a spot.

• The Oilers aren’t saying much, but they can’t be happy with the low fan turnout in Oklahoma City for the playoffs. They had a pitiful 1,922 fans in a 13,000-seat arena for Game 4 of the first-round AHL playoff series against the Houston Aeros, and 2,833 for the first game of Round 2 against the San Antonio Rampage. Those are AJHL crowds, folks. I get it that people stayed home to watch the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder playing the Mavericks in Dallas in the playoffs, but they must have known they’d be bucking the NBA when they decided to go there from Springfield, Mass.

• Norm Maciver, the former Oilers defenceman who helped Dave Manson as his defensive partner, has a shot at the assistant GM job with the Chicago Blackhawks after Marc Bergevin took the GM job in Montreal. M aciver, who got his name on the Stanley Cup with Chicago in 2010, is the Blackhawks director of player personnel. If it’s not Maciver, then Mark Bernard, who looks after their minor-league affiliate, might get the job.

• Doug MacLean, never at a loss for words, figured Nashville Predators’ Andrei Kostitsyn and Alex Radulov could have found other work in Music City if they couldn’t play after being told to suit in the press box after missing curfew last week. “They could be in a yellow suit, picking up those catfish (thrown onto the ice). If they do a good job, maybe they can practise with their team,” said the Rogers Sportsnet commentator.

• The Detroit Red Wings loved Darren McCarty’s pugnaciousness as the fighter on their Grind Line with Kris Draper and Kirk Maltby. They’re definitely looking to find a reasonable facsimile of McCarty when the free-agent marketplace opens on July 1. They need some sandpaper in the bottom six. The best UFA out there is Rangers’ Brandon Prust, who can play, fight and disturb. He’s represented by local agent Ritch Winter, who funnels lots of clients to the Wings. Jordin Tootoo, Travis Moen, Cody McLeod, Tom Kostopoulos, Adam Burish and Greg Campbell are also unrestricted. Heck, Tootoo might look good on the fourth line with the Oilers next year as an energy guy.

• As much as goalie Brian Elliott has come unhinged in the St. Louis Blues-L.A. Kings’ series, giving up 11 goals on 71 shots, his defence hasn’t done him any favours. Barret Jackman, Carlo Colaiacovo and Kevin Shattenkirk have really struggled and that’s three/quarters of their top 5 defencemen, with Alex Pietrangelo the other and he’s hurting.

• Marc Pouliot has been playing for the Phoenix Coyotes this round against the Nashville Predators, but he’ll likely come out of the lineup when Lauri Korpikoski (slight injury) returns. Phoenix misses Korpikoski (37 points) and his speed and head coach Dave Tippett is a big fan.

• Watching Blues forward Jamie Langenbrunner fight the much younger Mike Richards in Game 3 in L.A. was tough to see. Langenbrunner, who has won two Stanley Cups, with the Dallas Stars and New Jersey Devils, and has played 1,105 NHL games, is on his last legs. He turns 37 in July.

• Goalie Cristobal Huet, who was banished to the Swiss League two years ago by the Chicago Blackhawks to save salary-cap room, just finished a banner season in Fribourg, playing 39 games, and sporting a 1.99 goals-against average. He’s dying to get back to the NHL. Huet was making $5.625 million with the Blackhawks, but he’d gladly play for $750,000 as a No. 2, according to sources. The Kings, who say they want a veteran backup if they’re moving Jonathan Bernier this summer, might do well to consider Huet, who has a 2.46 GAA in 272 NHL games.

• Owen Sillinger, the son of Mike Sillinger, the Oilers head of player development, was picked in the 10th round of the WHL bantam draft by the Vancouver Giants. Dave Babych’s son, Cal, went to the Calgary Hitmen in Round 4. The selection of Matt Barzal (Burnaby Winter Club) at No. 1 overall gave the Vancouver area five of the last 10 first picks. Oilers farmhand Colten Teubert (2005), Gilbert Brule (2002), Ryan Nugent-Hopkins (2008) and Ryan Kerr (2004) are the others. Jansen Harkins, the second pick in Thursday’s draft, is the son of Todd Harkins, who played for the Calgary Flames. Edmonton Oil Kings winger Stephane Legault, who turned 19 last month, slipped through last year’s NHL draft with no takers. But nobody would be surprised if some team doesn’t have him on their radar now. “I think he’s better at this age than Fernando Pisani,” said one NHL scout.

• Steve Bartlet, Doug Weight’s former agent, represents feisty Oil Kings centre Henrik Samuelsson, who has to be on the Oilers’ second-round screen along with teammate Mitch Moroz. They pick 32nd overall. Moroz skates better and can fight; Samuelsson is six-foot-three and has better offensive skill.

• When you watch Portland Winterhawks’ antagonistic Brad Ross, a second-round draft of the Toronto Maple Leafs, it’s not hard to see who he plays like. “He’s Darcy Tucker,” said a longtime NHL amateur scout. Ross had 69 points and 171 penalty minutes this past season.

• Petr Nedved, now 40, is playing for the Czech Republic in the world hockey championship in Finland and Sweden.

Matty’s Short Shifts:

• I know people are looking at Alex Ovechkin’s hit on Dan Girardi Saturday as a possible suspension, but he hit him with a shoulder. He didn’t target his head and he had just lost the puck. And Ovechkin always leaves his feet. I agree with former Capitals head coach Bruce Boudreau, who says that Ovie, who only played 15 minutes and not a second after Mike Green’s slapper/winner with six minutes left, was protecting himself. He may get fined, but that’s about it.

• How big was that needle full of cortisone they shoved into Ilya Kovalchuk’s herniated back disk so he could skate and be the best player on the ice for the New Jersey Devils in Game 3 against the Philadelphia Flyers on Thursday? Resting up, they said, between games? Hmmm. No bad smell with Kovy’s treatment. I remember when Glen Sather (wink, wink) had that awful smelling DMSO (dimenthyl sulfoxide) that they used on horses in the mid-1980s to treat Andy Moog’s knees (ligaments) and Grant Fuhr’s shoulder.

• If Calgary Flames goalie Miikka Kiprusoff suddenly comes available after the June NHL entry draft, do you think Toronto Maple Leafs GM Brian Burke goes hard for him because he only has two years left ($5 million, then $1.5 million) on his contract. Then there’s Roberto Luongo, who makes way more but is 2-1/2 years younger than Kiprusoff. With Luongo, Burke could unload a contract on the Vancouver Canucks that he doesn’t want. Not so with Kipper. This would be a hockey deal.

• Has there been a better undrafted player in the last half-dozen years than Dan Girardi, the league’s top defensive blue-liner? He’s an absolute warrior, who has missed just two of 410 games for the New York Rangers over the last five years. In his draft year, he had a ruptured spleen and teams took a pass on him. But when he later won a Memorial Cup with the London Knights, alongside Corey Perry (Anaheim Ducks), and played with a broken hand for almost the entire playoffs, refusing to get it X-rayed, that was the tipoff how tough he was.

• In the next CBA, you can bet the players will want an independent judge or panel of three to hear appeals. You’re fighting city hall when you appeal a suspension to NHL commissioner Gary Bettman. Just ask Raffi Torres of the Phoenix Coyotes. It’s the same in the NFL, where commissioner Roger Goodall handed out stiff suspensions to the New Orleans Saints for their bounty program, then sat in judgment as the appeal voice. I thought Torres deserved to get whacked for the hit on Marian Hossa, but I’m not sure he deserved 25 games. He should have received something like what Matt Cooke got (17 games) for his sneaky hit on McDonagh.

• The Oilers were sniffing around Roman Cervenka, the Czech forward the Flames just signed for $3.375 million for one year, a small base salary and lots of bonuses (which he may not achieve), even prior to the Vancouver Olympics. They liked Cervenka’s offensive numbers, but were a little leery about his size (five-foot-11, 185 pounds) back then. The Toronto Maple Leafs were also in the hunt for Cervenka two years ago. I suspect unrestricted free agent Olli Jokinen’s time with the Calgary Flames is over now that Cervenka’s coming aboard. Jokinen just had abdominal surgery.

• I agree wholeheartedly with his eminence Red Fisher of the Montreal Gazette that the Habs can’t get lured into any absurd 10-to-12-year deal for their top gun goalie Carey Price as the Canucks did with Roberto Luongo, who is basically now available. Give Price $6 million a year for five years. That’s dollars and enough term. That’s the right Price.

• Oil Kings head coach Derek Laxdal had Capitals centre Jay Beagle, who is their prime defensive-zone faceoff guy, for eight games in 2006-07 in Boise, Idaho. Beagle, who had left school at the University of Anchorage and hooked up with the Steelhawks, is proving that every dog has its day. “I tried to get Dallas to sign Jay (when he was a free agent),” said Laxdal, who coached the Stars’ East Coast Hockey League affiliate back in those days.

He said It

“Slats looks more like Dame Judi Dench every day. Looking forward to Ms. Dench in The Glen Sather Story with Dick Van Dyke as John Muckler.”

— Witty commentator Ray Ferraro tweeting as he watched Sather sitting in the press box during three overtime Ranger-Capitals game.

By the numbers

6 Goals by the St. Louis Blues against Los Angeles Kings goalie Jonathan Quick this season in six games, including the regular season.

12 The Detroit Red Wings have an even dozen players in the world hockey championship.

Marquee Matchups:

Sunday: Can the Devils put the Flyers in a 3-1 hole? Time for Claude Giroux to step up again, or is he hurt?

Sunday: Will the Kings put the Blues out of their misery, winning four straight?

Almost Done!

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